KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHAT HAPPENS IF I AM STOPPED & PROSECUTED? DRIVING WITHOUT INSURANCE
In this month’s edition we examine the offence of ‘using a vehicle without insurance’ and explore how drivers can stay the right side of the law - and what you can do if you are ever accused.
GENERALLY
s.143 Road Traffic Act 1988 states: “a person must not use a motor vehicle on a road or other public place unless there is in force in relation to the use of the vehicle by that person such a policy of insurance”
The burden is on the driver to make sure that they have an insurance policy to drive that vehicle for the correct purpose, whether that be taxi insurance, business insurance or simply social domestic and pleasure.
Any person caught driving a vehicle without insurance can be issued a fixed penalty of 6 points and £300 fine, or if the case proceeds to court between 6-8 points and unlimited fines.
WHEN IS AN OFFENCE COMMITTED?
The police will prosecute somebody for driving without insurance if there is no policy in place at all or if the policy doesn’t cover them to drive.
It’s worth noting that the offence is called ‘using’ a vehicle without insurance, meaning it is an offence simply to have ‘use’ of a vehicle whilst uninsured - you don’t actually have to be driving.
In Carmichael & Sons v Cottle it was stated that an employer could be prosecuted for ‘using’ a vehicle if his employee was driving a company car whilst uninsured, and in Cobb v Williams it was held that the owner of a car could be ‘using’ if they were merely a passenger.
It is also an offence to permit somebody to drive without insurance. This means that if you allow somebody else to drive your vehicle without insurance, you can personally be prosecuted and end up with points on your licence.
The offence can only be committed on a road or other public place. What is defined as a ‘public place’ is not automatically dependent on who owns the land - it is a place to which the public have access. For example, a car park or a McDonald’s drive thru, even though privately owned, could be defined as a ‘public place’ if the general public have access.
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What you are likely to receive will be a conditional offer of a fixed penalty of 6 points and a £300 fine instead of going to court. If you choose to accept, you will get the points, pay the fine and that will be the end of it.
If you don’t accept it, the matter will proceed to court. The court papers will take a few months to arrive, when they do, the first thing to consider is what plea to enter.
Generally speaking, insurance cases can be divided into two separate categories:
1. I HAD AN INSURANCE POLICY BUT IT DIDN’T COVER ME TO DRIVE
The first thing to consider is why it didn’t cover you. If it’s because you didn’t have the correct policy,
for
example you were driving for business but only had social, domestic and pleasure cover, that is likely to be your fault and you would probably plead guilty and take the points.
Another example would be driving other vehicles. It’s a common myth that having fully comprehensive insurance automatically allows you to drive other vehicles. It does not. You are only able to drive other vehicles if it specifically says so in your policy.
If however you had a policy and you were driving the correct vehicle for the correct purpose, but the police accuse you of breaching the terms and the conditions of the policy it gets a more complicated. This could be an “invalid term”.
Section 148 Road Traffic Act 1988 lists a number of ‘invalid’ terms, such as :
(a) the age or condition of persons driving, (b) the condition of the vehicle, (c) the number of persons the vehicle carries, (d) the weight/characteristics of goods the vehicle carries, (e) the time or the areas the vehicle is used, (f) the horsepower or cc or value of the vehicle, (g) the carrying of any particular apparatus, or (h) the carrying of any particular means of ID
So for example, if a policy says that a driver is only insured to carry four passengers but there are five in the car, under s.148 we would argue this is an invalid term and so the driver would still be insured for criminal purposes.
Or if it’s an over 21 year old’s policy and the driver is only 20, again we would argue it’s an invalid term and avoid penalty points.
MAY 2024 PHTM
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